Stephen Colbert Points Out the Bizarre Standards of Nudity in Art

Really? We Have to Blur Out Painted Boobies? Really?

Being an art lover, I can say that seeing a masterpiece in person is quite a moving experience. Staring at one of the world’s greatest sculptures, artifacts, photographs, or paintings can be truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I am firm believer that everyone should visit museums, take art in school, and be exposed to all the great art the world has to offer. Yet if that great art contains nudity, it has to be blurred when shown on television. Really, world? Are we really at this point? Luckily, I’m not alone in my puzzlement of blurring the boobs and bush of a nude painted woman. Stephen Colbert also finds it odd.  

Look, I get that network television is so scared that someone will complain and they will lose a sponsor, but do they really think painted boobs are offensive? I’m sure there are some people out there who get super turned on by nudity in great works of art (and more power to you if that’s your thing), but I have a feeling the majority of us aren’t going to be sporting rock hard boners over Amedeo Modigliani’s 1917 masterpiece Nu couché. Most likely, we will all look at that painting and think about how Modigliani’s style of elongation of faces and figures has influenced the art of today.  

I could ramble on and on about my feelings on censorship when it comes to the greatest works of art ever created, but Stephen Colbert does a great job and he’s a little funnier than I am, so just watch the clip.